'I hope that awful vain man swallows a worm and chokes on it': I'm A Celebrity star David Van Day's Dollar bandmate lets rip | Daily Mail Online 'I hope that awful vain man swallows a worm and chokes on it': I'm A Celebrity star David Van Day's Dollar bandmate lets rip By LUCIE MORRIS 'He is an awful vain man': Thereza Bar, pictured at her home in Sydney last week, says she's furious with her Dollar bandmate David Van Day Thereza Bazar is pacing her Sydney sitting room fuming, her slender arms gesticulating wildly. Her matching Maltese dogs, Pom Pom and Romeo, slink out of the room, safely out of earshot. The 51-year-old singer is getting on to the subject of David Van Day, her former lover and stage partner, and there is clearly a lot more to come. Van Day, of course, is making a name for himself on I’m a Celebrity... Get Me Out of Here!, getting on the wrong side of his fellow contestants by throwing tantrums about the sleeping arrangements and apparently expecting hero worship for enduring a slurry of maggots.

‘He’s a bit Marmitey,’ presenter Declan Donnelly declared last week. ‘People either love him or hate him.’ There is little doubt which side Thereza’s on right now. ‘I really hope he swallows a worm in there and chokes on it,’ she says. It comes as a shock, given that Thereza has been performing with Van Day on and off for nearly 30 years as the other half of bubble-gum singing duo Dollar. Her house is even filled with pictures from their glory years. There are few people who can claim to have seen more of him than Thereza – but it is clear that what she has seen lately is more than enough. In recent days she has looked on as Van Day has preened himself in the ‘jungle’, a stage set created in a patch of damp rain-forest a few hundred miles north of Sydney. But while his fellow contestants have been marvelling at Van Day’s impenetrable self-obsession, Thereza has registered no surprise at all, just exasperation. As far as she is concerned, the 52-year-old with the chiselled but implausibly tight features is ‘at it again’.

RELATED ARTICLES Share this article Share ‘He will tread on his fellow contestants to try and win, just like he has used me for so many years,’ she says. ‘For once I’m going to speak my mind about that awful, vain man that I’ve had to put up with – and mother – for all these years. The silence needs to be broken.’ 'I hope he swallows a worm in there:' Van Day is making a name for himself on I'm a Celebrity...Get Me Out Of Here! It might seem strange that, after all this time, she should suddenly be so overwhelmed by fury. She has never given a newspaper interview about Van Day before and even now the pretext for her anger seems rather slender: it emerges that Van Day omitted to inform her he was taking part in I’m A Celebrity, even though it takes place on her home turf. The first she knew about his participation was when a friend told her by text message. Cue more wild gesticulations. ‘How can he come to my country, my patch and not even tell me?’ she says. ‘I don’t care if the producers told him to keep it a secret; we are supposed to be working partners and great friends.

I am totally incensed.’ Dollar in their Eighties heyday: Thereza Bazar and David Van Day In other respects, life seems pretty good for slender Thereza, who divides her time between teaching children to sing and looking after her two sons at an ocean-side home in Vaucluse, one of the city’s most beautiful suburbs. Recently divorced from her barrister husband, she says she is rather enjoying the single life. To unwind, she takes long walks on Bondi Beach. Or she can sit on the balcony of her £1million property, relax, drink white wine and do a little whale watching. Yet Van Day’s antics have plainly got under her skin. It turns out, in fact, that David Van Day has been getting under her skin for much of the past 30 years and, now that he is back in the public eye, her anger is beyond containment. ‘I have been so good to that man. Now, as usual, his ego and thirst for celebrity have gone above everything,’ she says. ‘I did so much of the hard graft for Dollar. I wrote a lot of the songs. I did most of the organisation. But he took the glory.

‘I always felt pushed to the sidelines in our years together. He always wanted the lead vocals and the most camera shots and basically the most attention. 'When it came to Dollar, I always thought about us. He always thought about himself.’ 'Desperately concerned about his image': The singer before entering the jungle Thereza has known Van Day since they were teenagers. The pair met when they worked together as members of Seventies group Guys ‘n’ Dolls and, aged just 17, started dating. She recalls: ‘Even then he was very vain and had more beauty products in his bathroom than me. ‘I wasn’t at all surprised when he had a full facelift earlier this year. He was always very much more concerned with plucking his eyebrows, putting on fake tan and retouching his highlights than our relationship. ‘But even so, he was my first love and we were very much in love, I totally adored him. I was very much the unworldly devoted young girlfriend and he could be very romantic, sexy and passionate . . .

if he wasn’t too busy looking in the mirror.’ Determined to find success as a duo they decided to break away from Guys ’n’ Dolls in 1977 and form their own act, Dollar. After a slow start, they began to notch up hit singles, such as Hand Held In Black And White, Videotheque and Mirror Mirror. Thereza, petite and blonde, added the feminine glamour to the so very Eighties band. Her hair was sprayed to within an inch of its life, her mouth was caked in bright red lipstick – and she loved every minute. ‘They were great years, so much travelling, touring and fun, but through it all we had to constantly pamper David’s ego. He made sure of it,’ she recalls. ‘One time we were picked up by a car to take us to perform on Top Of The Pops but because the BBC didn’t send a limo he refused to get in. It was a perfectly nice black saloon but he just wouldn’t hear of it until they sent a stretch limo. He could be such a diva; I used to wince with embarrassment.

‘For him, it was only about the fame game and all the trappings of celebrity.’ She particularly remembers one occasion when the band was approaching the height of its fame. ‘It was 1979, we were performing Love’s Gotta Hold On Me on Top Of The Pops. I’d written 95 per cent of the song but David expected to do the vocals. ‘But when we got to the studio, he found he couldn’t sing in the right key and couldn’t remember the words. 'I had to take the lead. It was a new thing for him, just standing there. He hadn’t done that before. Afterwards, he went into meltdown, he was so angry.’ And with David’s growing love of a high-octane celebrity lifestyle came the all too familiar tale of endless partying, cocaine addiction and reckless spending in clubs, restaurants and luxury hotels. ‘We were going in totally different directions,’ explains Thereza. ‘He loved all the fame and materialistic trappings. 'I liked to enjoy myself too but really wanted us to make Dollar a long-term success. I knew that we had to develop and improve to stay on top. ‘I suspect there were groupies at the time too.

Endless girls would put their phone numbers in his pocket. David Van Day takes part in bush tucker trial - Hell-O-Phone on the ITV show 'I never confronted him about it I didn’t want to know the truth at the time I suppose.’ On one particularly bad day in the early Eighties, David was in such a state that Thereza had to send him home from the recording studio. ‘He came in hungover and slurring his words from yet another drink and cocaine binge. ‘I said, “Just go home David,” but he never seemed sorry, even though it was costing thousands to pay the studio musicians and the producers.’ Their love affair could not survive the intense demands of success and fame. By the time they recorded O L’amour in 1983 they were no longer a couple. Thereza says: ‘We had grown apart romantically but I wasn’t upset about it, we were more like brother and sister by then. In fact I felt more like a mother to him most of the time. ‘I was just really keen to try to crack the US market together but David often didn’t perform as well as he could and I had to help him so much.

It was such a strain.’ During a trip to Hong Kong in 1984, David suddenly declared he wanted to ‘go it alone’. For years afterwards, they hardly spoke. He found personal happiness, for a while at least, with model wife Maria. They had two children – Olivia, now 16, and Amber, now 12 – before they also went their separate ways. Unpopular: David and Esther Rantzen have a heated exchange Van Day’s career veered from one disaster to another. He joined a new version of the group Bucks Fizz but in 2002 had to declare himself bankrupt after a costly legal dispute over the use of the name. Then came public humiliation, when he was pictured cooking burgers for a living in a mobile van in Brighton. In 2007 he stood as a candidate to be a Conservative councillor in Brighton but failed dismally after making homophobic remarks. Thereza, too, found it difficult to rediscover fame and in 1988 moved to Australia, hoping for a fresh start. She met a Sydney barrister, David Cowan, and together they started a family. ‘When I read about David selling burgers I was shocked,’ she says.

‘Maybe he enjoyed the attention of his customers recognising him. 'Even though there were lots of cruel headlines at the time calling him Burger Van Day, I think – strangely – he relished every moment.’ Her feelings about Van Day had long since soured. Yet in 2000 he started calling Thereza, asking if she was interested in reviving Dollar. Eventually, she agreed, and they started performing together again. ‘David said Eighties bands were having a comeback,’ she says. ‘I wasn’t keen at first but then I thought it would be fun for my children to see me on stage and thought why not?’ And so, on and off, for the past eight years she has been returning to the UK to perform with Van Day. In 2003, they took part in ITV’s ‘Reborn In The USA’ reality show. Embarrassingly, they were the first act to be voted off. Thereza says: ‘David was the same as ever, desperately worried about his image and keen on any kind of publicity.

'I put up with it because I enjoyed performing again and I have been quite keen on keeping Dollar going long-term.’ Indeed, until Thereza was told that Van Day was in the Australian jungle, she had even been planning for the duo to record a new track as well as a new Greatest Hits album. ‘I thought this new track could be a real hit for us, but when I discovered he had gone into the jungle without even telling me I just felt so angry,’ she says. ‘In recent years I’ve travelled the UK at his request for Dollar revivals and TV shows. 'Now I realise it was all just part of his masterplan to increase his fame. He’s been totally selfish by excluding me and being so sneaky behind my back. It’s a total lack of respect. ‘If it weren’t for me and the increased profile he has had recently with our revival of Dollar he’d never have been chosen to go into the jungle. 'He could have at least asked for me to be there to see him go in and it would have been great for Dollar, but no, he has chosen to make sure he gets all the attention on his own.’ Now she wants nothing to do with his jungle exploits.

‘I’ve already been asked by the show’s producers to fly up to the Gold Coast to be there when he gets out, but why should I? David always expects me to drop everything just for his benefit.’ She does admit to a certain amount of intrigue as to how he is coping and relies on regular internet updates from the show – which is not being shown on TV in Australia. ‘I am furious with him,’ she says. ‘But I can’t help but want to know how it is going for him in there. It must be pretty horrible at night out in the open.’ I couldn’t be sure – but that might have been said with a certain amount of glee. Last night David Van Day’s publicist Paula Seabourne-Pearson said: ‘I am surprised to hear that Thereza doesn’t like David. She has been very happy to work with him, especially right now. 'David was not allowed to tell anyone he was going into the jungle under his contract.’ She added: ‘Thereza did write a lot of the songs. David is a great businessman and an amazing PR man. They have different skills. 'To make out that Thereza was the person who did Dollar is ridiculous. They were a duo.

‘Of course he’s vain. He never denies he had a surgical facelift and, of course, he took cocaine. He doesn’t hide anything. He was a naughty boy and he admits that.’ Come whine with me | Daily Star Latest News Come whine with me I’M A Celebrity baddie and Dollar star David Van Day has clashed with former lover and singing partner Thereza Bazar. Published 9th January 2012 Channel 4’s reality TV show Come Dine With Me David Van Day has sparked a bitter war of words with former lover and singing partner Thereza Bazar Thereza Bazar He appeared on Channel 4’s reality TV show Come Dine With Me on Friday night with his wife Sue Moxley as the new pop duo Rich And Famous. They sang a medley of old Dollar hits such as Mirror Mirror, Oh L’Amour and Who Were You With In The Moonlight for their celeb guests who included Imogen Thomas, 29.

However the pair’s antics have struck a bum note with Thereza, 56, who was David’s side- kick and girlfriend while in Dollar between 1978 and 1988.She raged: “How dare they sing Dollar songs. And badly. “I don’t want anyone else singing our songs but me.“It is depressing and rid- icules everything we achieved as high flyers in the 1970s and 1980s. “Why can’t they murder someone else’s hits? I know why. It’s because Rich And Famous made one record and no-one bought it and no-one knows it. “David’s had his Van Day. Bazar is coming back!” Last night David, 55, hit back, saying: “Sue and I sang lots of songs for our guests but Channel 4 chose to show clips of us singing Dollar hits.

“As far as I’m concerned I was lead singer of Dollar and can sing the songs with anyone.” Sue, 41, added: “I’ve a better voice than Thereza.” David Van Day - IMDb IMDb David Van Day was born on November 28, 1957 in Brighton, East Sussex, England as David Paul Van Day. See full bio » Born: Do you have a demo reel? Add it to your IMDbPage How much of David Van Day's work have you seen?

User Polls Top of the Pops Himself / Himself - Dollar / Himself - Guest / Himself - Guys 'n' Dolls (1975-1988) The Wright Stuff Himself - Panelist / Himself - Guest Panelist (2008-2009) 2013 This Morning (TV Series) Himself 2011 Most Shocking Talent Show Moments (TV Movie documentary) Himself 2010 Celebrity Coach Trip (TV Series) Himself - Contestant 2009 Most Annoying People 2009 (TV Movie documentary) Himself 2004-2009 Hell's Kitchen (TV Series) Himself 2008-2009 The Wright Stuff (TV Series) Himself - Panelist / Himself - Guest Panelist 2009 Celebrity Juice (TV Series) Himself 2009 TV Burp (TV Series) Himself 2009 Richard & Judy (TV Series) Himself 2008 Loose Women (TV Series) Himself 2001 I Love 1980's (TV Series documentary) Himself 1983 No 73 (TV Series) Himself 

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Himself - Guest (as Dollar) - Episode #24.2 (1979) ... Himself - Guest (as Dollar) 1981 Get It Together (TV Series) Himself - Guest 1979 Seaside Special (TV Series) Himself 1977 Larry Grayson (TV Series) Himself - Member: Guys 'n' Dolls - Episode #2.7 (1977) ... Himself - Member: Guys 'n' Dolls (as Guys 'n Dolls) Hide Has two daughters called Amber and Olivia. See more » Star Sign: IMDb Everywhere Find showtimes, watch trailers, browse photos, track your Watchlist and rate your favorite movies and TV shows on your phone or tablet! The Paris Collection - Microsoft Store The Paris Collection 2011 • 16 songs • Pop • Contemporary Pop • WM UK Fresh from the success of their 1979 debut album, Shooting Stars, and three hit singles, British duo David Van Day and Thereza Bazar (together known as Dollar ) signed with Warner Bros. in the U.K. and began putting together an album that would build upon their past triumphs.

The Paris Collection emerged in 1980 and, while not the huge success that many had expected, the album was still a delightful platter of sweet ear candy that was aimed straight at the charts. While the album's title may lead one to believe that it's a collection of French songs, the Paris in the title refers to where the album was recorded. And like their debut, The Paris Collection is chock-full of catchy, innocent ‘80s pop, not unlike the more successful Bucks Fizz . And while many believe that frothy pop will not change the world, it sure does make it a better place to live in. Songs like "Radio," "The Girls Are Out to Get Ya," "Love at First Sight," and "Ebony" are bouncy slices of audio fun. "Takin' a Chance on You" is a midtempo nugget that has a recurring catchy little keyboard riff that sneaks its way into your brain and stays rooted for weeks on end. While both Van Day and Bazar take lead vocal turns, it's David's voice that stands out on the recordings. Not once do you ever think that he's "feeling" the song, but he is far more confident in the vocal department.

Bazar never disappoints, but she often sounds as if she's holding back as a lead vocalist. When she handles the choruses and harmony vocals, she's the perfect foil to Van Day's cockiness. The Cherry Pop reissue features a few rare gems, including some solo David Van Day recordings ("Ringing the Bell" was penned by Wang Chung ). While the albums that sandwiched this release were more successful, The Paris Collection remains a treat for those who like their pop lightweight, bubbly, and melodic. ~ Stephen SPAZ Schnee h2g2 - Dollar - the Band - Edited Entry 1 Conversation David Van Day may now be best known as a chubby burger van proprietor, but in the late 1970s and mid- 1980s he was roughly 50% of an unimaginably sophisticated, saccharine duo. The other half was Thereza Bazar. Together, they made up Dollar and sold a staggering ten million records in a decade-long career. Shooting Star David Paul Van Day was born on 28 November, 1957, in Brighton, England.

The young David harboured plans to become an actor, and he combined an acting career (involving television commercials for Clark's shoes and an appearance in a film version of Oliver!) with his studies as a pupil at the Italia Conti Stage School. However, his big break came when he took on the hugely-prestigious part of Cousin Yellowstone in a Mancunian stage production of The Wombles. An insightful agent saw through to the stellar talent that lay beneath the furry costume and, on the basis of Van Day's masterful interpretation of the existential turmoil of the litter-conscious Wimbledon Common dweller, offered him a place in cabaret group Guys and Dolls. During his tenure as 'blond bloke' in this wholesome combo, David met Thereza Louise Bazar (born 23 May, 1957, in Toronto). Bazar's career, following attendance at the Tiffin Grammar School in Kingston-upon-Thames and then the Arts Educational dance and drama college in London, had involved spells in pantomimes and summer shows, until she met Trevor Horn. The two of them joined the New Seekers, just as the band were about to split.

From there, Thereza joined Guys and Dolls, where she met David. Love's Gotta Hold on Me After 18 months on the cabaret circuit, David and Thereza, still in their teens, felt that what they were doing was a little old-fashioned. By now an item, the duo tried their luck with record companies, and in 1978 they signed a contract with Acrobat/Carrere records. In November of that year they had a hit with 'Shooting Star', which reached number 14 in the charts. More hit singles followed in 1979: the accusatory 'Who Were You With In The Moonlight?' in May, and 'Love's Got A Hold On Me' in August. All three singles featured on their first album, Shooting Stars and the year was rounded off with an unimaginative flourish when their cover of the Beatles' 'I Wanna Hold Your Hand' reached the UK Top Five in November. A new decade saw Dollar move to a new record company. Now signed to WEA, Dollar released their second album, The Paris Collection, but only one of the three singles released from it, 'Takin' A Chance on You' made the UK Top 75.

Although anonymity seemed to be beckoning, in October the couple celebrated their engagement in style at London's Savoy Hotel, planning to marry in spring the following year. Oh L'Amour Romantic euphoria was short-lived, however. As Britain rioted and prepared for the imminent royal wedding in equal measures, David and Thereza, feeling the pressures of fame, decided to end their relationship in the summer of 1981. Still, Dollar continued, and in August released 'Hand Held in Black and White', the first single from their third, imaginatively-titled collection of songs, The Dollar Album. This was their first collaboration with by now legendary music producer Trevor Horn (who Thereza knew from their time together in the New Seekers). The album spawned a huge hit, 'Mirror Mirror', and, the following year, 'Give Me Back My Heart' and 'Videoteque'. Their last release of '82, the Van Day- and Bazar-penned 'Give Me Some Kinda Magic' was less successful, failing to dent the top 30, and was to be their last single until 1986.

Van Day has claimed that Bazar's refusal to continue with Dollar, should he pursue a solo career, led to the band's demise. The pair, though both professionally and emotionally separate, weren't completely silent during the intervening years. David released a single, 'Young Americans Talking' in 1983 but it failed to make the top 40. Thereza released an album called The Big Kiss, produced by Arif Mardin, but neither of the two singles released from it hit the charts. In late 1985 she got in touch with David again and the two set about re-launching Dollar. However, aside from a cover of Erasure's 'Oh L'Amour', which hit the top ten in January 1988, none of the subsequent releases found acceptance outside of dance clubs, and Dollar split up. Van Day tried finding replacement female vocalists and released the solo single 'She Said She Said' (not a cover of the Beatles' classic) before joining another group, Bucks Fizz. Bazar stopped singing in order to raise a family, and settled in Sydney, Australia.

Piece of the Action By the mid-80s both girls from the line-up of 1981 Eurovision victors Bucks Fizz had left the band. In 1995 the 'boys' - Mike Nolan and Bobby G - went their separate ways too; and it was at this point that Bobby G (real name Robert Gubby) stepped in to help his old chum, who claimed to have blown a million pounds on cocaine. He approached Van Day and asked if he wanted to join the band, and they worked together for 15 months before the ex-Dollar man's departure. The split was not amicable, and Van Day then got together with Mike Nolan and two new girls to perform together under the slick alias of Bucks Fizz Dollar, which was later abbreviated to the altogether catchier 'Bucks Fizz'. Give Me Back My Cart Bucks Fizz was just one of the many strings to Van Day's bow. In November 2000, David, alongside fellow showbiz luminary Geoffrey from iconic children's TV show Rainbow, starred in a television campaign for Virgin One, which focused on his financial downfall.

Asked if he could have benefited from financial advice, his answer was clear - 'You betcha!' came the voice from the Brighton burger van. Unashamed of his career change, Van Day seemed to see the ad, the van (which he likened, without embarrassment, to Rolling Stone Bill Wyman's Sticky Fingers restaurant), his various musical sidelines, and indeed his ten-minute Wednesday morning slot on Southern Counties radio, as part of his portfolio - part of a wider business career. He did a life insurance sales course and invested in endowments and property. No Man's Land Meanwhile, Gubby, his ex-Bucks Fizz pal, was launching a legal action against him. Although he had been part of a line-up that involved original member Mike Nolan (who eventually settled with Gubby out of court), Van Day had a cavalier attitude towards the chirpy quartet.

In May 2000, after a performance at the Birmingham Gay Pride celebrations, Van Day explained how a reformed Dollar would only play at similar prestigious events: We're not going to go and do holiday camps that's for sure, even though I do them with Bucks Fizz and Mike - that's more our market, but not for Dollar, we wouldn't do that. This didn't mean, however, that he wasn't willing to pursue a bitter legal battle to use the name. In a memorable episode of Trouble at the Top 1 Bobby G raged against the injustice of it all: I was at Eurovision. I have had all the success with Bucks Fizz. I don't know why David Van Day doesn't go away and call himself the Beatles and give them the bother. An unrepentant and clearly Pontins-phobic Van Day continued to twist the knife: We are doing different things, in any case. He's doing... well, let's say a well-known holiday camp, which is fine, I suppose. But I've been picking up some really good festival dates, country house dates. We're trading on the nostalgia trip, that's our thing. I don't think we're a contemporary act in any way.

But I think maybe he does about his band. In July 2002, the case made it to the High Court, where Mr Justice Jacob refused to grant an injunction to prevent David Van Day's present pop group from using the name Bucks Fizz on the grounds that Bobby G had decided to take legal action too long after van Day started recording and touring as Bucks Fizz, and that it would cause van Day more harm through ticket sales and loss of reputation than would be caused to Gubby if the two bands kept using the name. A victorious Van Day, though garnering fewer bookings than Bobby G's combo, continued with the act and his burger van in Brighton. Refreshingly unpretentious about his music, first and foremost a businessman, Van Day explained: I didn't win two Oscars, we just had a few hits and I don't see the big deal about it... I just do things that come along, we're not in the premier division of pop music anymore. Haven't We Said Goodbye Before? David van Day has successfully gone on to have his cake and eat it, taking a reformed Dollar (oddly enough with 100% original components) back on the road.

Following the success of the Here and Now Christmas Party in 2002 - a national tour that saw them perform alongside the likes of the Human League (Sheffield's answer to Kraftwerk ), singing gardener Kim Wilde, Essex spendthrifts Five Star, jangly popsters Altered Images, all-female combo the Belle Stars and Tellytubby fan Steve Strange's Visage - a reunited Dollar were last seen performing on reality TV series Reborn in the USA in 2003. The Paris Collection - Dollar | Songs, Reviews, Credits | AllMusic The Paris Collection google+ AllMusic Review by Steve "Spaz" Schnee Fresh from the success of their 1979 debut album, Shooting Stars, and three hit singles, British duo David Van Day and Thereza Bazar (together known as Dollar ) signed with Warner Bros. in the U.K. and began putting together an album that would build upon their past triumphs. The Paris Collection emerged in 1980 and, while not the huge success that many had expected, the album was still a delightful platter of sweet ear candy that was aimed straight at the charts.

While the album's title may lead one to believe that it's a collection of French songs, the Paris in the title refers to where the album was recorded. And like their debut, The Paris Collection is chock-full of catchy, innocent ‘80s pop, not unlike the more successful Bucks Fizz . And while many believe that frothy pop will not change the world, it sure does make it a better place to live in. Songs like "Radio," "The Girls Are Out to Get Ya," "Love at First Sight," and "Ebony" are bouncy slices of audio fun. "Takin' a Chance on You" is a midtempo nugget that has a recurring catchy little keyboard riff that sneaks its way into your brain and stays rooted for weeks on end. While both Van Day and Bazar take lead vocal turns, it's David 's voice that stands out on the recordings. Not once do you ever think that he's "feeling" the song, but he is far more confident in the vocal department. Bazar never disappoints, but she often sounds as if she's holding back as a lead vocalist.

When she handles the choruses and harmony vocals, she's the perfect foil to Van Day 's cockiness. The Cherry Pop reissue features a few rare gems, including some solo David Van Day recordings ("Ringing the Bell" was penned by Wang Chung ). While the albums that sandwiched this release were more successful, The Paris Collection remains a treat for those who like their pop lightweight, bubbly, and melodic. Is this the vainest has-been in pop? Ex-Dollar star David Van Day and his wife hope £30k of his 'n' hers plastic surgery will earn him a very unlikely comeback | Daily Mail Online Is this the vainest has-been in pop? Ex-Dollar star David Van Day and his wife hope £30k of his 'n' hers plastic surgery will earn him a very unlikely comeback comments Loved up: David Van Day and Sue Moxley Close up, David Van Day’s face looks as if it has been moulded from the smoothest caramel, with just a few laughter lines to give away the fact he’s 56.

His skin is taut, his hazel eyes are free from bags and crepey lids, while the hair is the same frosted blond he sported in the Eighties when, as half of the singing duo Dollar, he was a teen pin-up. Back then — in his tight, white satin pants and vests — David was very pretty. Prettier perhaps than his band-mate and former lover, Thereza Bazar. And boy, did he know it. Indeed, these days, Thereza witheringly refers to her ex-singing partner as ‘that awful vain man’ for whom their hit song, Mirror Mirror, couldn’t have been more apt. ‘Am I vain? I suppose so,’ says David, with a pearly-white grin. ‘But I don’t think I’m vainer than any other performer. People judge a book by its cover, and although it’s shallow, that’s just the way it is in our business.’ He has, of course, had a little help ironing out those creases. As has his wife of three years, beauty expert and new singing partner Sue Moxley, who, at 50, looks at least ten years younger.

Sporting the same Caramac complexion as her husband, Sue has a mane of tumbling blonde hair, plump glossy lips, wide-awake eyes and a blindingly white smile. Theirs is clearly a marriage made in cosmetically enhanced heaven. Side by side, they look disturbingly like life-size versions of the Barbie and Ken dolls — which they might regard as the ultimate compliment. This level of plastic-fantastic re-modelling doesn’t come cheap, of course, and they have undergone more than £30,000 worth of cosmetic surgery to look this . . . ahem . . . good. And they aren’t finished yet. When I arrive at their home in Essex, the loved-up Van Days aren’t so much gazing into each other’s surgically tweaked eyes but into matching his ’n’ hers magnifying mirrors. RELATED ARTICLES Share this article Share ‘They highlight every wrinkle and open pore in so much detail, it’s scary — but if we look good in these mirrors, we know we’ll look OK to the outside world,’ explains Sue, whose make-up range, Famous, has just been launched in Tesco. ‘David kept stealing my mirror, so I had to get him his own.

When we go out, he takes longer to get ready than I do.’ David puts down his mirror for a second to add: ‘I don’t want to look young — I just want to look good for my age. ‘Having been a teeny-pop idol, you grow old in front of everyone. My rock ’n’ roll lifestyle had left me with little bumps and bags which spoilt the canvas.’ Reality show: David Van Day posing as a contestant for the eight series of 'I'm A Celebrity...Get Me Out Of Here!' Canvas now restored, David could be said to be enjoying a renaissance after lean years during which his first marriage collapsed and he was reduced to selling burgers from a van. He has re-invented himself from pop has-been to ‘reality TV personality’ — the highlight of which was a stint in the I’m A Celebrity jungle in 2008. He went on to marry Sue, a former model, in 2010. As a couple, theirs is a meeting of minds, and they clearly plan to enter old age fighting every last wrinkle.

To date, David has had an £8,800 facelift and eyelid lift, a £6,000 hair transplant, and further surgery on his lids and eye-bags totalling £3,800. On their wedding day, David had to wear sunglasses to hide the bruises from his eye surgery. Did this bother his bride? No, not in the slightest. As for Sue, she’s had a £5,000 boob job, tooth veneers costing £11,200 and upper and lower eyelid surgery costing £3,600. She’s had liposuction on her thighs and spends £540 every few months on Botox and fillers. Sue says: ‘Being attractive does open a lot of doors, and in some ways makes things easier in life. ‘The downside is that you become afraid of losing that.’ David, whose chubby-cheeked appearance was once cruelly compared with that of a ‘boiled hamster’, adds: ‘It’s imperative to be easy on the eye. The problem is that it’s a bit like painting one wall in your house. It looks great, but makes the other three look odd.

‘The trick is to know when to stop. It’s all about maintenance.’ Sue, who sings with David on the cabaret circuit, chips in: ‘When I first met David, he’d just had his facelift and looked pretty beaten up and puffy. I didn’t imagine in a million years that we’d end up married. ‘The fact he’d had a facelift didn’t make me think: “Oh, he’s really vain”. I think there’s nothing wrong with surgery for either men or women. If you have the money and go to someone reputable, then why not? Past: David Van Day and Thereza Bazar who, while in a relationship, left Bucks Fizz and formed the band Dollar ‘Right now, we’re thinking of having a little jaw work done.’ To give the couple credit, they are not the types to pretend their wrinkle-free complexions are the result of good genes and a healthy diet. They couldn’t be more upfront, hamming it up with Barbie and Ken poses for one recent magazine shoot.

Indeed, as David talks about what a fantastic ‘commodity’ they now represent as a couple, one has the distinct impression he would do almost anything to remain in the spotlight and ferret out new career opportunities. It was, he admits, a different story five years ago when, aged 51, he was contemplating semi-retirement in Spain, belting out old hits on the cabaret circuit in Benidorm. David’s marriage to former model Maria, mother of his daughters, Olivia, 20, and Amber, 17, had broken up and he’d sold his house in Brighton. He couldn’t see much of a future for himself in Britain. His rock ’n’ roll lifestyle — he reportedly blew £100,000 on cocaine in his heyday — had left its mark and his career had, said the headlines, hit ‘Bottom Dollar’ when he was reduced to selling fast food in Brighton, earning the nickname ‘Burger Van Day’. At the time, David had been singing with a latter-day version of the Eurovision Song Contest winners Bucks Fizz, but he was bored with it all. (Bandmate Bobby G would later call David a ‘talentless little s***’.

David, naturally, puts this down to jealousy.) Musical history: David Van Day pictured with his Bucks Fizz bandmates on the cover of a record So when David and Thereza were offered an extreme makeover on the Living TV show Pop Goes The Bands in 2008, he jumped at the chance to rejuvenate his appearance — along with his fading career. ‘I was single and felt I could do with a bit of tidying up. It didn’t depress me looking in the mirror, but I was certainly disappointed. ‘I hadn’t noticed the years catching up with me. It was as if one day I woke up and saw a knackered face looking back,’ he says of his decision to have a facelift on TV. David is delighted with his face now, but initially was so alarmed by the post-surgery swelling and bruising that he banned his daughters from seeing him for two weeks. ‘I looked like I’d been in a car crash,’ he says. ‘I came out with a big, fat head which took months to settle down, and my face was puffy and sore — but it wasn’t so bad that I wished I hadn’t had it done. ‘It’s a weird thing, cosmetic surgery.

A bit like having a baby, I should think: painful at the time, but you’re soon thinking about having more.’ David was then offered I’m A Celebrity … Get Me Out Of Here! Just before he left for the jungle, he met Sue at a party. He thought she was ‘gorgeous’ but she was less impressed by him. ‘David wasn’t exactly looking his best so soon after the facelift, and besides, I’ve never gone for blonde men,’ says Sue, who at the time was embroiled in an affair with married TV doctor Hilary Jones. Fast food: David with his takeaway venture in Brighton town centre after blowing millions of pounds on 'sex, drugs and rock and roll' David flew off to Australia, where he promptly became one of the most unpopular I’m A Celebrity inmates ever. This, he insists, was a virtuoso performance on his part. ‘I was the pantomime villain. Some people “got” me and knew I was performing. Others didn’t and thought that was the real me, which means I’m a bloody good performer,’ he says modestly.

Best of all, the starvation rations meant his face started to settle and his cheekbones re-emerged as he lost 21 lb. After leaving the jungle, David contacted Sue again and asked her out for dinner. Her affair with Dr Jones was ending, so she agreed. ‘David was looking much better after the jungle,’ she says. ‘I was also attracted by his confidence and finesse. ‘He was very much the gentleman, ordering nice champagne and knowing how to treat a lady. ‘We had so much in common, too. We liked the same music, dining in fine restaurants and stumbling out after too much wine and singing down the street.’ And cosmetic surgery, of course. Shortly after they started dating, in February 2009, David underwent a six-hour, £6,000 operation, under local anaesthetic, to transplant 4,000 hair follicles from the back of his head to his thinning crown. ‘It felt like torture, and it’s not something I’d be in a rush to repeat, but it was successful,’ says David. ‘Looking good opens more doors than it closes, although there will always be people who assume you are just some vain idiot.

‘Some women might not like a man like me, feeling they’d have to compete. But Sue loves it, even though she has to hide all her face creams from me.’ Old times: David with Thereza Bazar of the pop duo Dollar The couple now regard themselves as a media double act. Together, they have presented a show called The Odd Couple for Wedding TV, and there’s talk of new projects in the pipeline. But would their love survive if one or both let themselves go? Sue says: ‘Our relationship isn’t based solely on looks. I couldn’t bear to be with one of those guys who spends hours in the gym every day. ‘David just wants to maintain what he has. OK, he’s got a little pot belly, but he makes up for it in other areas, don’t you, darling? ‘I’d never say to David: “You need another facelift”, but I might say, “Oh, you have another little new line coming up there”.’ What about David? Would he love Sue regardless of how she looked? ‘I’ve always gone out with very strong, glamorous women, so I’d probably find it hard if she let herself go.

I wouldn’t encourage it — it would be showbiz suicide. ‘Around the house, it doesn’t bother me unnecessarily. In fact, we do walk around in our pyjamas, hair uncombed. We enjoy our lives too much to be the perfect specimens. ‘But if she said “That’s it” and didn’t bother at all, I’d be very disappointed and think it a bit shabby.’ At this point Sue asks, very quietly but rather pointedly: ‘Would you leave me, David?’ He hesitates, searches for the right words and then replies: ‘No, I don’t think I’d leave you — but I’d probably leave you at home.’

Question: Thereze Bazar and David van Day were better known as which duo
Answer: Dollar